


Not Good Enough

by Stonyinspirationwriter



Series: The Ava Stark-Rogers Series [11]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angry Steve Rogers, Angry Tony Stark, Disapproving Steve, Domestic, Domestic disagreement, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Exhausted steve, Fear of losing a child, General Steve Stark-Rogers, Guilt, Hurt Tony Stark, Injured Tony, M/M, Old Married Couple, Old Tony, Older Steve, Opposing views, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenting dispute, Protective Steve, Sad Tony Stark, Worried Steve Rogers, Worried Tony Stark, argument, parental stress, sad Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 18:13:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6621085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stonyinspirationwriter/pseuds/Stonyinspirationwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Tony stress over their daughter’s decision to join The Avengers, which then leads to opposing views on how to handle the situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Good Enough

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to "Good Enough".

Steve nearly had a heart attack when he found his husband out of bed and sitting in the hallway propped up against a wall. Tony’s eyes were shut but fluttered open once Steve ran to his side.  


“Tony!” Steve fell to his knees beside him. “What happened, Love?” 

“ I’m okay”, Tony assured him, waving him off. He made an attempt to rise to his feet but the brace on his leg weighed him down and he fell back down with a groan as pain shot through his damaged body.

Steve wrapped one arm around his waist while using the other to slowly pull Tony to his feet, careful to avoid one of the many bruises that colored his body. “Just thought I’d take a stroll”, Tony said dryly, leaning into Steve for support. “But I got tired.”

“ Bed. Now.” Steve commanded in what everyone had dubbed as his _Captain America_ voice. “Fuck, Tony!” Steve exclaimed as he slowly guided his limping husband back to bed, “You scared the hell outta me!” I’ll get you whatever you need, okay?

“Overreacting… “ Tony gritted his teeth against the pain. “Heard yelling…What’s going on?”

“Just a disagreement”, Steve responded curtly. He helped Tony into bed, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. It wasn’t their own bed, but it was good enough for now, at least until this was all over. It struck Steve how small and vulnerable Tony looked in that gigantic bed, like a floating man drifting off in a satin sea.

Steve hadn’t realized that he’d been so immersed in his thoughts until Tony said his name. “What’s going on?” Tony asked, his expression wary. 

Steve scrubbed his face. Now that he was standing still he was aware of the weight of his exhaustion, and along with it came that unavoidable guilt that had now doubled. “Sorry, I… “ Steve’s mind went blank, so he just left the uncompleted sentence suspended in mid-air. 

Tony patted the empty side of the bed. “Come here.” Without protest Steve crawled beside him, leaving a small gap between them so he didn’t accidentally brush against a bruise or tender area on Tony’s body. With a low groan Tony shifted to his side to face Steve. He slipped his hand into Steve’s and Steve pressed his lips to the newly scarred skin. Neither spoke aloud but their tired and jaded eyes engaged in a silent conversation. Steve continued to caress Tony’s hand with his thumb as he took in his face. Although his husband was strong and fairly healthy, he was also seventy years old; bound to the hardships of age. The injuries he had sustained could have been much worse, and for that Steve was profusely thanking God, but it was too close, and if complications were to arise then his condition could easily escalate. Quitting his role as Iron Man should have secured his safety.

“Beloved”,Tony murmured, gently brushing away the freshly spilt tears that trailed down Steve’s face. “What’s going on?” Tony pressed a chaste kiss to Steve’s lips. “Hm?” When he didn’t answer he kissed one of his tear stained cheeks. “What happened?”

“I’m fucking up… “ Steve rasped, his voice breaking. He swallowed back the bundle of sobs. “Protecting you. Protecting Ava.”

“ We’ve talked about this”, Tony said gently but firmly. “This was not your fault. I’m okay. I’m right beside you. I’m right here, Cap.”

“I love you so much.” It came out like a plea.” Just the thought of…” Steve swallowed down the words. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling through a blurry curtain of tears. Tony inched closer and pressed his nose against Steve’s arm to get his attention. Wiping his eyes Steve turned back onto his side so that he was once again facing Tony.

“Hey, Hey…” Tony cooed. “Honey, you’re exhausted.”

Steve shook his head. “Can’t.”

“Can’t what?” Tony demanded. “Can’t be tired? Can’t afford to be human?” Steve didn’t respond. “What happened out there, between you and Ava?” Steve threw an arm over his eyes as though it would shield him from the conversation, and loudly exhaled. He stayed silent for a while, stalling as long as possible. Surprisingly, Tony held onto his patience and Steve could sense his eyes unflinchingly staring at him. He knew his husband could be relentless and Steve knew that in his state of fatigue Tony would wear him down much sooner than later; he had to tell him. 

Steve removed his arm and sat up. Tony was staring at him with an expectant expression.“Ava has her mind set on becoming an Avenger.”

Tony’s expression was blank as his mind slowly comprehended the information. After a long pause Tony quietly repeated, “An Avenger?” Steve nodded. “Oh.” Steve watched as defeat settled into those brown irises. In all the years they had known each other it was a look he could only recall seeing on Tony’s face only once before, and the memory attached had haunted Steve for years. He had made it his personal mission to never see that expression–to never be the cause of that expression– again, but just like everything else lately, he had failed that too. 

“You know”, Tony said with a sigh, his eyes focused above on a nonexistent spot. “Sometimes I _really_ miss drinking.” There was no humor in his tone. 

With faked certainty, Steve said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” 

“We can’t.”

“What?” 

“ We can’t stop her”, Tony said, his tone solemn. He turned back to Steve. “When have you or l ever listened to reason when it came to something we truly believed in? We went as far as starting a war, Steve.”

A surge of rage ran through Steve’s body like a flash of lightning. “The fuck we can’t! I don’t need my daughter’s death on my conscience!”, Steve snapped, surprising not only Tony but himself. 

Then Tony’s pupils narrowed, and his eyes flashed with a ferocity. _“And you think that I fucking do!?”_ Tony sprang up to a sitting position so fast that the accompanying pain would have been dizzying if it were not for the fury that was currently overriding his entire system. “She’s nineteen! What do you want to do!? Lock her up!? Chain her to a damned wall!?” 

“I will _not_ allow her to join”, Steve said coldly; delivered as a threat to an unknown party. He shot out of bed.

“You really think that she needs your permission to play hero?” Tony said, a derisive expression directed at Steve, who was too busy pacing the room like a caged animal to even see. “She’s gonna go out, Avenger or no Avenger, training or no training, and no one will be able to stop her because she’s as stubborn as the two of us combined! She can either do it unprepared and untrained or we could give her a proper chance at survival.” 

Tony was right. He was right and it pissed Steve off. _A proper chance at survival._ Had a more personally offensive sentence ever been uttered to a parent? He had feared that this day would come, although truthfully, it had once been a seemingly baseless fear because Ava hadn’t openly expressed any desire before now. _He’d been blitz attacked! “_ Fine!” Steve shouted, completely fed up with it all. “But she has to pass all the training courses just like everyone else! And even then I’ll put her in the reserves. Her current work takes priority.”

Tony solemnly nodded. Steve took a few steps to leave but stopped in the doorway. “You know, Steve said without preamble, turning on his heels. “Ava said something today that really bothered me. She said that she’ll never be enough for me. That she’ll never be able to impress me. Did I do something to make her think that?”

Tony’s smile was tight. “It couldn’t have been easy being born into all of this.” His expression resigned. “We tried, though.”

“Not hard enough.”

“No. I guess not.” 

Just as Steve was once again about to leave,Tony called him back, stopping him in his track with his back still to him “Yeah?” He called over his shoulder.

“Stay with me? Just a few minutes longer?” Tony’s sounded uncharacteristically meek, prompting Steve to turn. He looked up at him like a frightened child, and Steve was reminded of Ava when she was a small child too afraid of the dark to sleep alone. She’d look up at him with large brown eyes—a near duplicate of the present pair of eyes looking up at him now–counting on him to make everything better. 

Without a word Steve kicked off his boots and resumed his place beside Tony. Before long they were both asleep; their fingers intertwined.

**Author's Note:**

> Same Older Steve and Tony depicted in "As Time Goes By", except only a few years younger.


End file.
